Christian county sheriff il 155.700

[kc9ltw]

12/18/2011
County opts to encrypt scanner radios; cite officer safety as priority

Laura Wolfe General Assignment Reporter Breeze Courier
CHRISTIAN COUNTY – Any individual or business with a police scanner in Christian County may have noticed that county traffic has suddenly gone silent.
This is because of a recent update in systems at the Sheriff’s Office.
The previous system was an unencrypted analog system. This system could be monitored by anyone with a scanner. “This unsecure format could easily be used by the criminal element that could monitor the activity and locations of law enforcement throughout the county,” said Christian County Sheriff Bruce Kettelkamp.
P25, formerly known as Project 25 or APCO-25
The new system went on-line December 6, at 1 p.m.
The Christian County Sheriff’s Office selected the encryption option in the new radio system for several reasons, but primarily for officer safety, according to Kettelkamp.*

[cubn]

Do you know what NAC code they use on the P25 channel?

[kc9ltw]

What is a NAC code?

[stevelton]

What good would the NAC code do you if they are encrypted?

Does anyone know if they are actually transmitting P25 yet?
Steven

[stevelton]

I also think it is funny, if they are actually going to P25, because Taylorville PD went to Icom IDAS. P25 and NXDN cant work together, which means they cant talk or listen to each other on the other agency's channel. Thats Interoperability in Illinois!
Hope they remember to renew their IREACH license
Steven

[Phantom1989]

Someone should tell that Sheriff about how the students at Virginia Tech used police scanner audio to stay away from the danger during the recent shooting on campus. I wonder what he would think about encryption then.

[ducksoup65]

Well I don't know if they are transmitting P25, but they are certainly transmitting digital something. Spoke to an aquaintance who is a deputy, he said the new system is great for them. The portable radios look just like the new ones Cass County is carrying but no antenna on the shoulder mike.

[stevelton]

I may be going up that way the first of the year, I will take my NXDN radio with me to see how it reacts to their signal. That would let me know weather or not it is NXDN. Their license hasnt been updated yet (as of 3 days ago), so I cant see any emmission designators that show digital emmisions.

Steven

[cheld18]

It is a P25 signal that is encrypted. The NAC is 127.

[cifn2]

Everytime I read a new post like this I think to myself, if the "bad guys" are so prominent with scanners, why are they not being charged with using them in the comission of a crime? In this time of technology radio is not the only method that agencies can use to keep the "bad guys" from hearing. Many agencies use CAD systems which send messages to squad cars, this cannot be received by "bad guys". I know we all could go on for days. I don't mind the digital technology, or the advances in that matter, but I do mind the lack of interoperability, which is not always considered.

[ducksoup65]

I agree with your statement about lack of interoperability, but don't agree that this is the proper thread to mention it. At least Christian Co picked an open standard (P25) and probably paid through the nose for it. These departments that choose proprietary protocols (TRBO, NXDN) are the ones that let down the concept of interoperability. But, to their defense, they can buy the same or better capability for a fraction of the price.

So in today's economy, can these small departments really afford interoperability?

[jaysutton24]

I provide the christian county feed and I happen to be listening in on the scanner through the night and heard a tone then "Sharpsburg site power failure" 5 times. What exactly is the Sharpsburg site? Is it where the new digital site is? I do have the christian county 911 test frequency in (151.430 I think it was) but I wasn't home to see what frequency it was on when it went off.

[cheld18]

That frequency will most likely be the new repeater out for fire/EMS dispatch in Christian County. The Sharpsburg site is probably one of many receive sites scattered throughout the county to help weak radio signals get to the repeater.

[kc9ltw]

Originally Posted by jaysutton24

I provide the christian county feed and I happen to be listening in on the scanner through the night and heard a tone then "Sharpsburg site power failure" 5 times. What exactly is the Sharpsburg site? Is it where the new digital site is? I do have the christian county 911 test frequency in (151.430 I think it was) but I wasn't home to see what frequency it was on when it went off.

"Sharpsburg site power failure" sounds at 7 minutes after the top of each hour, I find it hard to accept that this new frequency will be used for Fire/Ems Communications or dispatch... Monitor pagers are used by all local FD/EMS the new frequency would cause an entire change for all agencies....

[jaysutton24]

So does this mean that all agencies are upgrading their units and we will possibly not be hearing fire and ems with this new system? I mean, right now, county fire and ems is the only thing we can hear besides Taylorville Police.

[cheld18]

As far as I know, this will be a narrowband analog system, able to be heard by any scanner.

[jaysutton24]

Well, it is awesome that we can still hear the county fire and ems along with Taylorville Police but I still would like to hear the Sheriff's Dept. Every time I seen them go flying by with their lights and sirens, it just makes me so mad that I don't know where they are going. And like many, I'm just a public citizen wanting to listen to the scanner to hear what's going on around the county and especially if I'm going to be on the road somewhere, I'll know where to avoid if needed to.

Deputies and police always ask for the public's help finding criminals. Well, when we hear it over the scanner and it's in our area, we are better able to help then the next day when it's in the paper or on the daily news. By then, the person can change their looks and even not be seen for days. Heck if there's breaking news, I always heard it from the scanner because I'm not always on the breeze courier website or listening to 94.3. I listen to Springfield, Decatur stations more than Taylorville so how does that help me when there are accidents, road closures, or an incident where traffic needs to avoid.

[cifn2]

Remember the goal of public safety communications are effective an safe communications not public broadcast.

[jaysutton24]

Did Pana Ambulance go digital as well?

460.262 is their frequency and it keeps kicking in and out like it's a digital frequency now.

[cifn2]

The article only mentioned the Sheriff's Department.